April 23 / Luke 18:18-30

Posted byFred 3 Comments on April 23 / Luke 18:18-30

Luke 18:18-30

The “rich, young ruler”, the finale! Comparing the three accounts… First, Matthew and Mark each list six “commandments”, but for each of them their sixth is not one of the original Mt. Sinai commandments. Matthew has …love your neighbor as yourself (v. 19), while Mark’s sixth is “Do not defraud…” (v. 19). Neither of them mentions “Do not covet…”, which seems to be the young man’s main problem, his love for his wealth. Luke mentions only five commandments. Second, when Jesus mentions the rewards that will come to those who follow Him, only Mark adds “…with persecutions” (v. 30). On that item, I think of converts in Muslim countries who become outcasts from their families and communities. Bethany Tennent has talked about this outcome as one of the major difficulties the Alagwa people have in following Jesus. Third, I already mentioned two days ago about Matthew’s inclusion of the disciples’ sitting on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel; only Matthew includes this item. Fourth, none of these gospels specifically mentions a “rich, young ruler”. Both Matthew and Mark speak of “a man” or “someone”, and Matthew calls the man “young” in verses 20 and 22; only Luke calls him “a ruler”. Finally, all three Synoptic writers include the line, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God, a clear warning to those of us in our wealthy USA environment to be careful for the extent to which we are “coveting” (think, serving), our wealth.

I’m sure there are other differences between the three Synoptic gospels. Please feel free to mention some that I have not included.

All in all, this story of the “rich, young ruler” is worthy of our three days’ study!

See also: August 10 / Luke 18:18-30

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3 Comments

  1. Something that jumped out at me this reading is in v 19, Jesus asks him, “Why do you call me good? Only God is good.” Another way of saying that might be, “Are you calling me God? Or, do you believe I am God?” The young man missed this, and also missed that Jesus said no one but God is good. So how could the young man ever be good or good enough, even if he gave away all that he had?

  2. A few additional thoughts and observations on the story of the rich young ruler…

    • I expect that most of us have heard the idea that when Jesus spoke of a camel going through “the eye of a needle” that he was referring to a small, short gate in Jerusalem’s wall, and that camels had to get down on their knees to crawl through it, making it very difficult — but not impossible — to get through. Hogwash! He clearly meant to provide an utterly ridiculous scenario, something impossible, which is exactly what he said: What is impossible with man is possible with God. (Mt. 19:26, Mark 10:27, Luke 18:27) Don’t be fooled or misled by folks who may sound scholarly (and even well-intentioned) but who water down Jesus’ words.
    • And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” (Mt. 19:25, Mark 10:26, Luke 18:26) A common perception (both then and now) is that righteous people are blessed materially and sinners are not, which goes to say that wealth is a clear sign of God’s favor and poverty a sign of His disfavor. That was the perspective of Job’s friends — and even of Job himself, to the extent that He wanted to argue his case. (That is, Job’s friends all considered him to be righteous when he was rich, but when his wealth and health were taken away, it was a clear indication that he had messed up. Job knew that he hadn’t messed up — he was certainly no worse than his friends — and therefore could not understand his circumstances.) The Book of Job (and a number of Psalms) should be sufficient to demonstrate the fallacy of the “rich people must be good people” perspective, but apparently not. All of that goes to say that if you think that the rich are in God’s favor, and Jesus comes along and says it is difficult (impossible!) for the rich to be saved, then the poor must be in an even worse position! If the favored ones can’t get into the Kingdom, then surely the disfavored can’t either. Yet Jesus offers hope: …with God all things are possible. And, indeed, that is the only hope that any of us has.
    • It’s easy to look at the rich young ruler and think that this story applies primarily to the rich (or even the super-rich) but surely not to me (us). But as Debbie pointed out, it is not just material wealth at issue here; it is anything that might stand in the way of our following Jesus. That may well be wealth and possessions, but it may just as well be something less tangible. What do I cling to? What habit do I refuse to give up? What opinion do I hold that may not quite conform to God’s view of things? What pet peeve(s) do I hold against others? The list goes on… Total surrender is the only answer.

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